


5 Times Mac Saved Jack Back

by TwirlsWrites



Series: Force Myself to Write 2017 edition [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 5 Times, Age Difference, Comic Book Science, M/M, Poor Attempts at MacGyvering, They both swear more than they probably should, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 08:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10873410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwirlsWrites/pseuds/TwirlsWrites
Summary: Jack's read "The Time Traveller's Wife," okay? He really doesn't need this right now. || Mac gets thrown through time.





	5 Times Mac Saved Jack Back

            It had started simply enough. Before leaving MIT, Mac had made a few more visits to his old classmates. Smitty in particular was excited about a machine he had made that he thought could be further developed for transportation. Interested, Mac had gone inside to see what was there. Then everything had started spinning.

  * 1975



            The spinning stopped as suddenly as it began, but it still took Mac a few seconds to reorient himself. The metal box was gone, as was the lab, and Mac was in the woods. Literally, in the woods, with tall trees all around him, birds chirping, and the sounds of a child crying somewhere nearby.

            “Hello?” he called. The sound cut off abruptly and was followed by footsteps. Mac turned to find a young boy peering at him from the trees. His eyes were swollen, face red, and he was holding his right arm awkwardly.

            “Who’re you?” The boy asked. Mac crouched down.

            “My name is Mac, what’s your name?” he said, keeping his voice level. The boy eyed him suspiciously but after a few seconds he came closer.

            “‘m Jack Dalton,” he said, voice hesitant.

            Oh shit.

            Mac took beat to be grateful he hadn’t said that aloud - the kid seemed skittish.

            “I’m camping with my dad but I got lost,” Jack continued. “An’ I fell and hurt my arm.”

            “I’m sorry to hear that,” Mac said. “Do you know how long ago you saw your dad?”

            “No,” Jack said. “But it was early, I was supposed to find sticks.” The sun was up, and if Mac had to guess he’d say it was early afternoon. A quick glance told him Jack wasn’t wearing a watch.

            “Do you know what day it was?” he asked.

            “May 25th,” Jack said.

            “And the year?” Mac pressed. Jack frowned.

            “1975,” he said.

            Double Shit.

            “Okay. Don’t worry Jack, being lost in the woods is scary but there are some things we can do to keep safe while we wait for your dad to find you, okay?” Mac said with a smile. “Do you have any ideas about that?”

            “My arm hurts,” Jack said, face crumbling. Mac allowed himself a moment of panic before pulling back to the situation.

            “Hey, hey, it’ll be okay!” He assured him. He pulled off his jacket, grabbed his knife, and cut out the lining. “Hey, can you find me any big sticks in this clearing?” he asked as he started putting the cloth into strips. Jack sniffed, but looked around and picked up a stick. It was the perfect size, and solid. “Great job Jack.”

            “Izzat a splint?” Jack asked.

            “Yes it is,” Mac told him. “Are you a boy scout Jack?”

            “No,” Jack said. “There ain’t a troop in our town.”

            “Well, making a splint is pretty easy and it’ll help your arm feel better too, First you need something solid to keep it steady, and strips of cloth to tie it. Are you ready to try? This will probably be uncomfortable.”

            “… okay,” Jack said after a few beats. They sat and Jack slowly extended his arm, wincing. Mac splinted it as quickly as he could, making sure it was solid and the soft material of Jack’s own jacket was in between his arm and the stick. “What’s the last strip for?” Jack asked.

            “After we splint a hurt limb, it’s important to put it in a sling too, that way it’s more comfortable,” Mac said. “This’ll be a pretty simple one, so be careful with it okay?”

            “Okay,” Jack agreed, watching as Mac tied the ends of the last piece of lining together. Carefully he helped Jack get his arm secure.

            “Next, we should find water,” Mac said.

            “There’s a stream over there,” Jack said, pointing with his good arm. “I was trying to make a fire by it.”

            “Good job, Jack!” Mac said. “Did you know that making three fires is an international symbol for help?”

            “Three fires?” Jack repeated, following Mac as he rose and started to move.

            “Yep. But in this case, one should be okay because your dad should see the smoke.”

            “Maybe we should make three just in case,” Jack said.

            “We can do that too,” Mac said.

            The stream was small, but still flowing and looked clean enough to rely on. Jack watched attentively as Mac made the first fire, and helped as best he could with the second. They had just gathered enough wood for the third when someone calling Jack’s name could be heard in the distance.

            “DAD!?” Jack shouted. The voice grew closer and Mac could hear the man clomping through the trees. Mac started to feel lightheaded, and the static in the air grew.

            “Jack!” the man exclaimed, pushing his way into their clearing.

            “Dad!” Jack exclaimed, running to give the man a hug.

            Mac felt himself be pulled away, back into the spinning sensation that had brought him there. 

 

  * 1986



            “Oh what the fuck.”

            “What the hell happened to you?”

            “If you’re my imaginary friend, shouldn’t you know?”

            “You remember me?”

            “No… not… ’til now at least, weird. Maybe those dickbags knocked some memory loose,” he muttered, rubbing at his head.

            “You have a serious baby face. I can’t believe you ever made fun of mine,” Mac muttered.

            “‘fuck you talking about?”

            “Nothing, nothing - how old are you? And what happened?”

            “I’m 18,” Jack - who was definitely not 18 - grumbled. “I got my ass handed to me, what does it look like happened? Who the hell are you anyway?”

            “I’m a friend of yours,” Mac said. Jack gave him an eerie distrustful look. Mac could find his Jack in that face, it was weird. “From the future.”

            “Right.”

            “No, look, it’s like Back to the Fu… wait, what year is this? Has Back to the Future come out yet?” Mac started. Jack still looked doubtful but he nodded. “Right, yeah, okay. So you know how when Biff sneaks his past self the Almanac, the future is all messed up and he’s the president?”

            “ _What?_ ” Jack says, wincing at him.

            “… which Back to the Future movies have come out?” Jack’s startled look is the only answer he needs. “Nevermind. I’m a friend of yours from the future but if I tell you more than that I’ll probably mess something up. What happened to you?” he asked, crouching down next to Jack. He pulled out his knife and cut out some of the lining of his jacket to dab at the cut on Jack’s face. Jack hissed and pulled back. “Come on, it’ll be worse than this if you want to join the army.”

            “How do you know about that? I haven’t told anyone about that!” Jack said, visibly startled.

            “Was it a secret? Your dad is in the Air Force,” Mac pointed out.

            “He doesn’t… holy shit, you’re not actually full of it are you?”

            “Seriously, what happened?” Mac asked. Jack sighed, rolling his head back against the dirty brick wall. “Wait, how old are you? 16? 17? Is this about Tricia?” Jack stared.

            “I… what…?”

            “Jack you need to go to the hospital you broke a rib!”

            “They hurt her!” Jack yelled, standing. “I can’t let them get away with that!”

            “I know, Jack,” Mac said. “But if you don’t get that rib looked at you could really mess yourself up. You can’t help anyone if you lose a lung.” Ignoring Jack’s protesting, Mac walked to the street to call a cab and walked back over to help him move.

            “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t,” Jack muttered.

            “Jack. I’ve got your back, okay?” Mac said quietly. “You have no reason to trust me right now, but do okay? Go to the hospital.” Jack nodded slowly, looking dazed and Mac mentally added a concussion to the story Jack usually told. He slipped the driver a twenty that he hopefully wouldn’t look too closely at and stepped back.

            Mac watched the cab drive off and turned back to look at the building Jack had been collapsed next to. It was past three in the morning and the place was empty for the night.

            One thing Jack had told Mac about this occasion was that the club his friend had been assaulted at had burned down while he was in the hospital.

            Mac pulled out his Swiss Army Knife.

 

  * 1996



            The world stopped spinning in a place that was both familiar and not. Mac had never seen the broken-down walls around him but the gritty sand in the air, blistering heat, and tied-up GI in the corner all screamed desert combat.

            The tied-up GI was Jack, of course. As Mac watched he looked up and startled, eyes widening then narrowing. He shifted and Mac rushed over to pull down the gag from his mouth.

            “What the hell is going on?” Jack demanded, voice hushed as Mac went to work on the duct tape around his wrists. “Who are you and why don’t I remember you until you show up again?”

            “I’m a friend, and I don’t know why,” Mac answered.

            “Huh.” Jack said. With his hands free he started working at the tape on his right leg while Mac worked on the right.

            “Where are we?” Mac asked, pocketing his knife and looking around. “My security clearance is higher than yours,” he added when Jack didn’t reply. Jack snorted.

            “Right kid,” he said.

            “You don’t get to call me kid, I’m pretty sure I’m older than you - Delta Force or not,” Mac said.

            “You Delta?” Jack asked.

            “No. Regular enlistment for me,” Mac said. Jack considered him, eyes flicking up and down before shrugging.

            “Right, well, if you are my guardian angel you’re gonna have a hell of a time with this one.”

            “How many hostiles?” Mac asked.

            “None,” Jack replied. “They took off. No way to contact my squad, I’m at least 40 clicks from my last known.” he stood and stretched out. Mac frowned, looking around the room.

            “Maybe we can put together a makeshift radio.”

            “Who are you, Gilligan making a coconut phone?” Jack scoffed and moved to the window to check the perimeter. Mac just rolled his eyes and made for the wall where there was a light embedded near the door and started unscrewing the lightbulb.

            “Do you see any tinfoil?” he called.

            “Tinfoil?” came the incredulous call back. Mac couldn’t help but grin, it had been awhile since he’d gotten that kind of doubt from Jack so it was fun to hear from a younger Jack. He tried to think of an alternate universe where they’d met at the same age like this, he didn’t think it would work.

            “Hypothetically, a radio transmitter is made up of a few simple parts. I doubt this place has any of them, but they might have some stuff that could substitute.” he looked over to see Jack shooting him a doubtful look but - with a final glance to the window - Jack nodded and started searching through a pile of debris around what looked to be a former desk.

            Fifteen minutes later and Mac had run out of options for the transmitter. He had managed to rig something together but it had only lasted a few minutes - Mac had anticipated that but he’d hoped something would happen. For all his blustering Jack had clearly been thrown around before they left him and he needed medical attention.

            “Now what?” He asked.

            “Now we improvise,” Mac said. “I’ll make an explosion big enough to draw attention.”

            “You’re going to make a bomb?” Jack repeated, voice strained.

            “It should get their attention. And we can wait a little longer, use it as a last resort,” Mac said. “Don’t worry, I do this all the time.”

            “Build bombs?”

            “And save our lives,” Mac agreed with a grin. Jack sighed and did another pace around the room. Mac occupied himself with the bomb, and after a few minutes he managed to pull himself back to the present (so to speak) and tell Jack how it worked. Jack was sitting in the chair he had been tied to, elbows on his knees, slumped over, eyes distracted. It was kind of echoing back to the first couple months he and Jack had worked together.

            “Are you okay?” Mac asked, standing and walking over. He went to put a hand on the other man’s shoulder before remembering this wasn’t his Jack and hovering back. Jack glanced up.

            “Yeah man,” he said, shaking his head.

            “I could jump out at any time, talk to me.” Mac said. Jack seemed to consider this for a beat.

            “What you said before, about how you’re always saving our lives. Am I some kind of fuck up or somethin?”

            “What? No way,” Mac said, startled. “You’re the best. You save my life way more than I save yours, it’s kind of our thing.”

            “Right,” Jack said.

            “Jack,” Mac said.

            “You just built a radio, radio transmitter, and bomb from junk in an abandoned building in the middle of fuckall nowhere,” Jack said. “What use could you possibly have for a run of the mill soldier like me?”

            “Jack,” Mac repeated, trying to maintain eye contact. “You’re basically the most important person in my life. We’re partners, okay?”

            “Things are getting kind of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ up in here, kid,” Jack said, awkwardly laughing. Mac frowned.

            “You’re always worse with emotions than I am, huh?” he said. He started to turn away but Jack grabbed his arm. He looked back to find Jack studying his face. Mac stood still, not sure what he was looking for.

            “Huh,” Jack muttered. Then, slowly, he rose from the chair, moved forward, and pressed his lips against Mac’s. Mac froze for a second before responding, knowing that he shouldn’t but unable to help himself. He’d never kissed Jack before, never saw it as an option, and this wasn’t his Jack but kissing him felt natural as breathing and he couldn’t help but melt into it. It took a few seconds before he was able to pull back.

            “We shouldn’t have done that,” he breathed, rubbing his hands together as he paced.

            “You only live once,” Jack said with a shrug, his pupils were blown wide and Mac was sure his were the same. “‘m about to die anyway.”

            “You’re not going to die,” Mac said.

            “You don’t know that,” Jack protested. “I’ve been abandoned in the middle of nowhere with no way to contact my team.

            “I’m from the future!”

            “What about the butterfly effect and all that,” Jack pointed out.

            “Bradbury fan,” Mac muttered. Jack rolled his eyes.

            “Shut up and get back over here,” he said.

            “You make a good point,” Mac allowed, walking back over and grabbing Jack by the collar to pull him into another kiss. “But I think I’m about to get pulled out.” the strange static feeling was back.

            “Excuses excuses,” Jack said.

            “Remember, be careful with the bomb,” Mac said, breath going short.

            “See you on the other side,” Jack said.

 

  * 2007



    Mac was confused when things finally slow down again. He looked around but nothing seemed overly familiar, just another city street. He startled as a figure came barreling out of the door to his left. When the man stumbled to his feet, he realized why he was there.

    “Jack?” he said, moving forward to help him stay standing.

    “Hey!” Jack said, voice loud and breath reeking of vodka, “It’s Mac! Maaac Ataaack! I ‘member you again!”

    “Did you… drink a distillery or something? Where are you staying?” Mac asked. Jack didn’t respond, swaying on his feet and Mac managed to pull out his wallet to check for a room key.

    “Isslike two blocks South,” Jack said. “The Super 8.”

    “What’s going on?” Mac asked. “What happened? Is this about your dad?”

    “You’re late Wonderboy,” Jack told him. “That was last year.”

    “I’m sorry,” Mac said. Jack gave a sloppy shrug, nearly sending himself to the ground with the motion.

    “You know, I forget about you every time until you show up again with your weird magic voodoo nonsense,” he said.

    “It’s not magic it’s science,” Mac said with a sigh. He didn’t have to look to know Jack was rolling his eyes.

    “Whatever. You say you know me, why haven’t I met you - actual you?” Jack asked. Mac frowned.

    “What year is it?”

    “Jesus Christ, what does that mean?” Jack groaned. Mac didn’t say anything as he managed to get both of them into the hotel room and set Jack in a chair as he continued. “It’s 2007.”

    “We’ll meet soon,” Mac said. He would be rushing through basic training about then. Mac went to the bathroom sink to grab Jack some water, and realized the other man hadn’t said anything for about a minute. He turned to see Jack watching him with a drunk frown. “What?”

    “You’re a kid, aren’t you?” Jack asked. “We kissed last time, I kissed a kid.”

    “I’m 28 years old,” Mac said with a sigh. “I’m not a kid.”

    “Yeah? How old are you right now? The real you, the 2007 you?” Jack demanded. Mac frowned, setting the water down on the table next to Jack. He crossed his arms before responding, knowing it was going to make things worse.

    “18.”

    “ _Christ_ ,” Jack groaned, covering his face with his hands.

    “It’s not a big deal,” Mac tells him.

    “The hell it isn’t! I’m old enough to be your _dad_!” Jack exclaims, still talking into his hands.

    “Look, could you just calm down and sober up? You’re not my goddamn dad, you’re the most important person in my life and I thought we cleared that up a decade ago. What is with you?”

    ”They’re kicking me out.”

    “What?”

    “Delta. They’re retirin’ me. ‘m too old now.”

    “Oh,” Mac didn’t know what to say. Jack stood and shuffled to fall onto the bed.

    “I knew it was comin’. Surprised they let me stay on this long.”

    “There’s no letting in the army, Jack - you’ve lasted past the age barrier this long because you’re the best damn soldier they have,” Mac told him. Jack snorted, managing to sit himself up on the bed. Mac frowned, trying to catch his eye. “Now you can just save the world in other ways.”

    “Izzat what we do? We save the world?” Jack asked, squinting at him.

    “Yeah Jack,” Mac said. Something seemed to lighten in Jack’s shoulders and Mac couldn’t help but smile at him. Jack stared at him, eyes going wide.

    “Shit, what did I do to deserve you? I’m gonna kiss you one last time ‘for it gets weird.”

    “Okay okay o- not that I want you to stop right now,” Mac stuttered between kisses. “and not that we do this in my time but if that’s been an option and you haven’t fucking taken it I’m going to be very upset.”

    “‘m not going to remember this anyway,” Jack pointed out, kissing Mac’s neck.

    “Well hopefully you will when I get home,” Mac pointed out. He frowned, the staticky feeling returning.

    “You’re about to jump again aren’t ya?” Jack asked.

    “I think so.”

    “See ya kid.”

    “I told you not to ca—!“

    The last thing Mac sees is Jack’s familiar smile.

 

  * 2016



            “Damn, I really thought I’d be home this time,” Mac muttered, looking around. If he wasn’t mistaken this was Jack’s old apartment. His room, actually, before he’d moved to that new place a few months ago.

            “Mac?” Jack’s voice was faint with sleep, but it grew clearer as he sat up in his bed. “Mac? What the hell are you doing here, you’re supposed to be in the h—oh, it’s you isn’t it? Future Mac.” His voice faded from alarm to amusement. “Memories came back faster this time. Or I’m hallucinating from the head injury. Maybe both.”

            “Hi Jack.”

            “You’re okay,” Jack said, voice quiet but shockingly relieved. Mac couldn’t help but frown as he walked closer.

            “Yeah, I’m… this is after Lake Como, isn’t it?” he asked. Jack winced and looked away. “Jack I’m okay,” he said. Mac reached the edge of the bed and tugged at the collar of his shirt, stretching it down to show Jack the scar from that night. Jack’s hand reached out and slowly traced the lines of the scar.

            “When are you from?”

            “About a year from now,” Mac replied. “We’re at MIT and my old friend Smitty is showing me this project he’s working on and the rest thing I know I’m rescuing a small child who’s lost in the woods.”

            “I’m glad,” Jack told him.

            “Me too,” Mac said. “but I miss my Jack.”

            “I miss my Mac,” Jack replied.

            “He’ll be okay,” Mac said. “He’ll just need some time.”

            “… I hope I remember this when you get back,” Jack said after a long pause.

            “Me too,” Mac agreed. “

 

  * 2017



            “… Mac? Mac are you back?” it took longer for the spinning to stop this time, and even longer for Mac to realize that he was back in the chamber with Smitty banging on the door.

            “Yeah, yeah it’s me,” he managed to wheeze out. The door opened with a clank and Smitty helped him up and out of the machine. “What the hell?”

            “Are you okay?” Smitty asked.

            “How long was I in there?” Mac asked, feeling solid enough to stand on his own. Smitty opened his mouth to reply but Jack’s voice from the doorway cut him off.

            “Three fucking hours, Mac,” he snapped. Mac spun around. Jack had clearly been pacing back and forth. “What the hell made you decide to up and go wandering in to some experimental nut job box an—“ Jack cut of, wincing suddenly and rubbing at his head with his uninjured arm. His eyes widened and he looked back at Mac, stunned.

            “Thank God, that would have taken forever to explain,” Mac said, rushing over. “How do you feel?” He asked, voice soft. Jack watched him for a moment before reaching out, cupping Mac’s cheek, and pulling him in for a kiss.

 


End file.
